How to Make Christmas Placemats

It seems that a lot of Christmas activity is centered around the dinner table. What better way to add a festive touch to your table than to display homemade Christmas placemats. You can use cutouts from Christmas cards, wrapping paper, magazines, photos, etc. Or you can have your children color pictures and use that. You can also use stickers, glitter, and stamp designs. And the great thing about these placemats is that they wipe clean so they can be re-used and they are also reversible. Following are the directions on how to make homemade Christmas placemats that will give you endless enjoyment during the holidays!

Cut posterboard or paper to desired size for placemat. Standard placemat measurements are 14 x 19 inches.

This is the fun part! You essentially make a collage using cutouts from Christmas cards, wrapping paper, magazines, photos, etc. You can also use stickers, glitter, and ink stamps or artwork that your children have made.

Allow the placemat to dry thoroughly.

Turn the placemat over and decorate the reverse side. Let dry thoroughly.

Using clear contact paper, cut a piece 2 inches longer than the placemat. Peel back 2 inches of the backing paper and fold flat. Using care, stick the sticky side of the clear contact paper to one end of the placemat front. Make sure to center the contact paper so that it extends approximately 1/2 inch beyond the top and bottom of the placemat. Peel away the rest of the backing and smooth the contact paper into place.

Cut another piece of contact 2 inches longer than the placemat and affix is smoothly to the reverse side of your placemat.

Make sure both sides are smooth, then firmly press the edges together.

Trim the four edges of the contact paper to approximately 1/2 inch or slightly less outside of the placemat. You can use decorative edge scissors to give the placemat an extra fancy holiday look.